Blind Sight
by Suess MD
Summary: SPR is called out to investigate a haunted cafe. But it seems the problem isn't with the place itself . . .
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: If Ghost Hunt belonged to me, would I be writing Fan fiction? Of course not.

**Blind Sight**

Friday

November 17

Day 1

4:30 PM

"This is the place?" Ayako said, examining the a small two-story café the SPR van was parked in front of. "It sure doesn't _look_ haunted."

"You can't judge things by their appearance, right?" Mai responded, peering at the building, then conceding, "But it's certainly not what you'd expect from a haunted house."

* * *

_Two days earlier, Mai had been sitting on the front room the Shibuya Physic Research office, filing various legal papers from small cases they'd already finished. There was no noise at first, then a slight knock was heard, followed by the ring of the bell on the door. Mai turned around to see a girl about her age, with long black hair and blue-grey eyes standing at the desk. She was wearing a long white sweater, and she stood silently in front of the desk as Mai walked up to meet her._

"_Um . . . can I help you?" Mai asked. The girl was so silent and pale; she almost looked like a ghost herself. Mai found herself checking to make sure the girl had legs and she wasn't actually talking to a yurei.* _

"_My name is Hitotose Akiyuki. I had an appointment?" the girl said. Her voice was very clear, with every syllable enunciated so clearly that Mai didn't answer aloud for fear of sounding like she was talking with a mouth full of oatmeal. Instead, she nodded, and waved one hand at the couch in a 'sit,' gesture, and left to find Naru and Lin._

_Lin was emerging from his office with his computer, having remembered the appointment and been listening for the doorbell. Mai went to Naru's office, knocking before opening the door. "We have a customer," she reminded him. _

"_I know," Naru said, closing the notebook in front of him. _Of course you did, _Mai thought, _'Cause it would kill you to just politely thank me!

_Mai left the office with Naru following her a few moments later._

* * *

Naru walked up to the front door of the café, and pushed it open. It swung with a cheery jingling of bells, and a call of, "We're closed today, sorry!"

A dark haired woman of around 40 breezed through the sliding door separating the collection of tables for the restaurant from an unseen room in the back. She looked at them for a moment, and then said, "Oh, are you from Shibuya Physic Research? The people Akiyuki went to?"

"That's correct," Naru said, "I'm Kazuya Shibuya. I own the business." Mai watched to see surprise cross the woman's face at Naru's youth, but it seemed she'd already known.

"You are young, Aki-chan was right. I'm Akiyuki's aunt," she explained, then added, "Well, I suppose you'd better come in then. We've prepared the rooms you've asked for." As the group of spiritualists stepped into the room she added, "Oh, and you'll want to avoid standing by the shelf with the dishes on it. Or anything else heavy, for that matter." She said it with a smile, but her tone was tired.

Naru nodded and lead the team, currently composed of Lin, Mai, Ayako, and Bou-san, behind the woman. Hitotose led them into the back, which was a large kitchen. On the right side of the kitchen, another large set of sliding doors had been pushed back to reveal a living room. "The café takes up most of the bottom floor, so we live in the loft upstairs," Hitotose explained, "Your rooms are upstairs, as well, but you have free roam of the place. The café is closed, as you heard, so nowhere is off-limits right now."

"Can we speak to the sister that your niece spoke about when she came to visit us?" Naru said. Hitotose nodded.

"I'll get her. Akiyuki will want to be there too, do you mind?" she asked, waving them up the stairs into a narrow hallway that had several doors on either side of it. Three of them were opened, and she led them into an average sized wood-paneled room with several large tables pushed against the walls. "I'm afraid that this is the best we can do for equipment rooms. This house is old, and this room has the most electrical outlets in the entire place, except for the kitchen."

"This will do fine," Naru said, and then added, "I would like to hear from everyone who experienced phenomena in this house. That includes Akiyuki; and yourself."

"That's impossible," Hitotose frowned, "Because a number of customers also experienced things, and we don't have their contact information. I believe that between the three of us, you should be able to get most of the information you're looking for, though."

Naru frowned slightly, but nodded. Hitotose left, mentioning something about getting Akiyuki and her sister, then arrived back only moments later with Akiyuki behind her, looking less like a ghost than the day she'd arrived at the office. She was leading an albino girl with long white hair and a cheerful smile.

"Start bringing in the equipment," Naru instructed, and gestured for the sisters to sit in front of him. "I heard from your sister that you experienced much of the phenomena that occurred in this house," he said, speaking to the white haired girl.

"Yep," the she smiled, "That's me. I'm Hitotose Mamori, nice to meet you." She spoke normally, but had a distinct Osakan drawl that contrasted starkly with her sister's crisp speech.

* * *

_Mai set a three tea cups down on the coffee table between the couches. Naru grabbed his own, but Akiyuki simply watched it, hands folded in her lap, as the ghostly steam drifted from the cup. Lin's fingers hung poised over the computer, waiting for the interview to begin._

"_What brought you here?" Naru said, jumping straight to the point. Akiyuki seemed relieved, and started her story in a business-like tone._

"_I recently moved to the area along with my twin sister. Our father works overseas, and our mother died 14 years ago. Normally his business trips are short enough to leave us by ourselves, but since this particular trip is scheduled to last over a year and a half, he decided that we needed some kind of adult guardian. We have an aunt that runs a café in a town near here, and she had some back rooms that hadn't been used for a long time. She unblocked the rooms, and we moved in about two and a half months ago."_

_Akiyuki took a breath, and shifted her hands in her lap. "For about a week, everything was normal. Then strange things started to happen around the cafe. At first, they were actually extremely helpful – meals would be prepped, even though nobody remembered making them, drinks that should have gone cold remained the same temperature, or we would leave the house and when we came back, objects that had been left out or dishes left undone had been put away. It stayed that way for a little over two weeks."_

_Lin's fingers flew across the keys as Akiyuki paused again. "At the start of our fourth week in the house, we started to notice changes in whatever force had been housekeeping before – instead of cleaning, it would knock small objects off shelves, or it would knock pots of ingredients over. Sometimes it would pull books off shelves and fling them across the room. We never saw the objects start moving – we would simply be sitting in a room next door and suddenly something would crash, or fly into a wall, even though there was nobody there. The stove would occasionally burst into flames, and customers would say they felt like someone was watching them. We didn't do anything, though, because it never caused much damage. It was like having an energetic dog in the house, rather than an angry ghost."_

_Mai shivered. It sounded like a classic poltergeist, to her. Akiyuki's expression darkened as she continued her story. "A few weeks later, after we'd been there for maybe a month and a half, the spirit changed again. Larger objects started to move, once a chair was thrown with such force it shattered when it hit the wall. Doors and windows started to slam themselves randomly, and usually they'd be locked closed for several minutes. We started hearing noises about that time, too. My sister heard them first – footsteps, pounding, wailing. Baa-chan** started hearing them shortly after her, and recently I have been able to as well. My aunt is a very tolerant person, because Obaa-san*** was a bit of a spiritualist, so she didn't want to go for help just yet. She tried exorcising the backrooms herself, but immediately after she tried that, my sister started to see things."_

_Akiyuki's hands were turning in her lap by now and she started to speak faster than before. "You don't know my sister, so the words 'she started to see things' don't mean as much as they should. She's been blind since the day she was born, but she started to see eyes and foggy shapes follow her around the house. My aunt took her to the doctor to make sure it wasn't a problem with her eyes, but there was nothing wrong. A little over a week ago, my aunt woke up in the middle of the night, paralyzed. She said she felt hands pinning her shoulders against the bed, and she screamed. She could move again after my sister and I entered the room, but the bruises are still there."_

_By now, Mai was standing, trying to keep from gaping like a fish. "That's scary!" she exploded, "Why didn't you go for help?"_

_Akiyuki's head fell into her hand. "We did," she said so softly it was hard to hear her. "Obaa-san came to visit, and she tried exorcising my sister and aunt's bedrooms. She had requested that we stay outside while she worked, so no one would distract her or be in any danger. While she was in my aunt's bedroom, we heard a horrible scream that was sharply cut off, but the door had been jammed. By the time we'd broken it down; Obaa-san was already dead. She had been strangled."_

_Mai's hands lifted automatically to her throat. Then, she walked over to Akiyuki's side, setting one hand on her shoulder, wishing there was something she could do._

_Akiyuki looked up and shrugged Mai off, but as she finished her voice was hoarse with sadness and fear. "Until then, I had seen very few of the events myself. More often, they were witnessed by my family instead of myself, or by families in the café. But as we came into the room to find Obaa-san dead, I saw the wall start to bleed."_

"_The wall was . . . ?" Naru said, asking for clarification without actually asking._

"_The wall was bleeding," she repeated, "Like the wall had pores, and there was blood coming though them. I know there was blood. I could smell it," she wrinkled her nose slightly at the memory, casting her eyes down at her hands. "My family saw it, too. It spelled out three words, and then disappeared."_

"_What did it read?" Naru asked, as Lin continued to type quickly. Mai stood behind Akiyuki, hands balled into horrified fists. _

"_It said '_stay away, bitch,'_" Akiyuki answered. "There's nothing we can do anymore. We needed to find someone to come, and nobody else would accept our case because they're afraid of dying like Obaa-san." Her voice was bitter, but somehow hopeful. "I read on the Internet that this agency accepted a case where there were deaths involved before."_

_Naru nodded to Lin then turned to Akiyuki. "We'll come," he said, and started to give her instructions regarding their rooms and arrival time._

* * *

Mai walked back to the room with the last of the computer equipment. Mamori, Akiyuki, and Hitotose were sitting on the ground, though Naru had long since pulled a chair up to a table so he could write in and flip through his binder. Lin sat on a black office chair, setting up the equipment. Mai sat on the floor as well, slightly away from the family.

" . . . . I'd always see the eyes right before I went to bed, or when I woke up," Mamori was saying thoughtfully, "I thought they were awful, but once they led me away from a bookshelf right before it got pushed down, and it's never done anything to hurt me. Another time, when I got separated from Akiyuki in the market, I found her again by following the shape. It's so hard to explain what I'm seeing, because I don't have anything to compare it to."

Naru frowned thoughtfully. "You've never seen anything like this before?"

Mamori tipped her head to one side, thinking. "One other time, I did. I saw the same sort of eye shapes once, when I fell into a pond and nearly drowned when I was 8 years old. But they were different, then. Not different in shape, or size, just different. Like, when I drowned, the eyes made me feel good, and now the make me feel anxious. And they've changed another way, too. As if they were . . . hued differently," she said drawing pictures in the air with her hands, trying to explain what she'd seen.

"Were they different colors, Mamori?" Akiyuki suddenly asked.

"I guess," Mamori said, "I don't know what colors are, really, but that's what I want to call them. The first time I saw them, they were a . . ." her hand flapped uselessly in front of her, "Colder color, like water or fog. Now, they're a hot, angry sort of color."

"Blue and red," Ayako said suddenly, "I'm willing to bet the first eyes were blue or grey, like Akiyuki's, and the second eyes were red, like Mamori's." Mai noticed, for the first time, Mamori's strange albino eyes, a brownish red.

"I dunno," Mamori said, "Your guess is better than mine."

"Speaking of markets," Hitotose interrupted, "I need to go shopping, if you're done with us for now. If there's anything else you need to know, I'll be happy to answer any questions later." She stood up, and so did Mamori and Akiyuki.

"We're in the third room on the left from the top of the stairs," Akiyuki said, "Even since Obaa-san died, Baa-chan has been staying in my room, and I'm staying with Mamori. We'll be there if you need anything." Akiyuki led Mamori out of the room, and Hitotose followed them out with a little parting wave.

Naru looked at Mai. "Start setting up the cameras, Mai," he instructed.

"Yes," Mai sighed, taking the equipment and heading off into the house.

* * *

"This house," Mai complained to Bou-san as they set up the final camera, "Is deceptively large. I don't know how so many rooms can be fit into such a small space!"

Bou-san laughed, and explained, "Houses like this are built to be narrow rectangles so that a lot of storefronts could be crammed close together. They extend a lot farther back than they appear from the front."

"Is that angle okay, Lin?" Mai called through her walkie-talkie.

"That's fine," he answered, "You can come back to base now."

Mai joked with Bou-san as they arrived back at base. Naru was looking over his notes, and Mai stood in front of him, trying to grab his attention. "Any ideas, Naru-bou?" she asked.

"It's a poltergeist of some sort, right?" Ayako said, "A lot of the signs are there – flying objects, locking doors, strange noises, small fires, and apparitions."

"Ordinary poltergeists don't kill spiritualists that try to exorcise them," Naru said, "And apparitions don't usually occur for people that can't see. For that matter, traditional poltergeists are usually tied to a place, not a person, so the eyes wouldn't have travelled with the girl since she was eight years old. More likely, there's another kind of spirit tied to the younger sister that was upset by her recent change in living arrangements."

"If we know that much, we can exorcise the spirit, right?" Bou-san asked.

"No," Naru snapped coldly, "You appear to be forgetting the level of spirit we're dealing with. It not only resisted an exorcism, it killed the exorcist. It created illusions that the family could not only see, but smell. It's at a much higher level than trying to exorcise it with such little solid information."

"Fine, fine," Bou-san said, "I was just asking. So nobody can exorcise it?"

"John might be able to," Naru said, "But first I'd like to know more about the kind of spirit this is. At this point, we still haven't seen any kind of activity. Once we know more about the spirit we're dealing with, we will be able to exorcise it."

Naru snapped his binder closed, and left the room. Mai stayed at the base for awhile, watching the monitors until Hitotose arrived home and treated them all to a traditional Japanese style dinner.

Everything stayed peaceful until about 1:00 AM the next morning.

* * *

*Yurei: A classical Japanese ghost usually portrayed as a person with long, dark hair wearing a white kimono. They disappear at the waist, which is why Mai is checking for legs.

**Baa-chan: A disrespectful title used for a middle-aged to older woman. Akiyuki is using it playfully, but you wouldn't want to use it to refer to most Japanese women because it's usually taken as an insult.

***Obaa-san: A respectful way to say 'Grandmother.'

* * *

Here's the first chapter of my first Ghost Hunt fic every written. It's very different from what I've done before, so bear with me until I can pin down the writing style. This case will circulate more around the original SPR, but I couldn't see a way to fill in all the information from before the case started with out heavy OC involvement. Mai and the rest will play a bigger part in the following chapters. Please review and let me know what you think! I love criticisms as well, as long as you pinpoint what's wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Ghost Hunt doesn't belong to me! But you already knew that, now didn't you?

**Blind Sight**

Saturday

November 18

Day 2

12:15 AM

_Mai looked around her. She was standing in a wide hallway, and the wooden walls were decorated with artfully painted fans. The world had a surreal quality to it, and Mai knew it was a dream, despite the lack of spirit-lights. The passage was dark and quiet, with an eerie solemnity to it. Naru was no where to be seen._

_She looked down the hallway, and saw a small, black haired child in a blue nightgown sitting, knees against her chest, next to a heavy door. A tall man brown hair and a sad, kindly expression came from the darkened side of the corridor and squatted in front of the girl, setting one hand against her cheek._

"_Hey," he whispered, "It's alright now. You can go back to bed." His words were reassuring, but his face was worried, though the child was too young to understand the mixed messages the man was sending. The little girl didn't answer, but she slowly pushed herself up into a standing position against the wall. "Good girl," the man whispered again, ruffling her hair. He took her by the hand, and led her down the hallway._

_Mai hurried after them, trying to understand what was going on. As she passed the door, the little girl had been sitting by, a sudden feeling of apprehension slammed into her. She stopped, and turned slowly towards the door. Tentatively, she set one hand on the brass doorknob, and a feeling like icy water slid down her spine. She shivered, hesitating for a moment before turning the knob._

_When she pushed open the door, she could make out the shadowy shapes of a bed and a desk. The glow of spirits circled around the center of the room, but their light didn't illuminate anything in the room. Her hand scrambled for a moment on the wall and she flicked on the light switch._

_The bed was dripping red with blood, the body of a woman lying slumped across it. A clock on the wall chimed 1 o'clock._

* * *

Mai woke with a start, shaking. She shot up into a sitting position, and then took a deep breath. The body had surprised her, and scared her. Setting one hand over her heart, she took several more breaths until she'd calmed down enough to lie back down. A small digital clock in one corner of the room read 12:55 at night, but the rest of the room was very dark.

_Stay calm, Mai, _she ordered herself, _you've been through worse. It was only a dream._ But there was something unsettlingly familiar about the woman on the bed, and the girl in the hallway. _It's probably my imagination, _Mai dismissed it, and sighed, closing her eyes to try to sleep again.

Mai was in the strange twilight state between sleep and waking when she was startled violently awake by a piercing wail. She sat up, wincing and covering her ears as it increased in pitch and volume. Looking at Ayako, Mai was shocked to see that somehow, despite the noise, she was still asleep.

Mai stumbled out of bed and opened the door into the hallway. The door to Naru, Lin, and Bou-san's room was still shut, but Akiyuki was standing in her doorway, hands clamped over her ears. Almost immediately after Mai opened her door, Hitotose appeared in front of her room.

"You can hear it?" Akiyuki said, looking at Mai.

"Of course," Mai said, "It's so _loud!_"

"I couldn't hear it for a long time," Akiyuki admitted, "Mamori and Baa-chan had complained about it for weeks before I noticed anything. I'm surprised you noticed it so quickly."

"It's like this every night?" Mai asked, risking taking her hands off her ears for a moment, and promptly covering them again.

"Not always," Hitotose joined the conversation, "its worse on the weekends, but it's still usually very loud."

"How long is this going to last?" Mai asked, horrified at the thought of spending the entire night listening to the heart-wrenching wail.

"Not too long, don't worry," Akiyuki said, "About an hour, maybe two." _My ears will start bleeding before then! _Mai moaned to herself.

Akiyuki must have noticed Mai's distress, because she disappeared into her room, and came out with two foam earplugs, offering them to Mai. "They don't block it out completely, but they do help," she said, dropping them in Mai's hand.

Mai took them gratefully, and twisted them into her ears. Akiyuki waved goodnight, and closed the door to her room. Hitotose followed in suit, and Mai took that as her cue to return to bed herself. She closed the door, climbed into her bed, and took one last look at the still-sleeping Ayako, then closed her eyes and tried to ignore the still-growing clamor of the spirit.

She didn't sleep well. Even after the noises finally hit a violent climax and abruptly faded away, she still felt inexplicably unsettled. Just as she had started to drift off again, the buzzer of the clock went off, and Mai, covering her yawn, had to prepare to face the next day.

"Mornin'," Mamori said, walking down the hallway. She was wearing long sleeves and pants, and looking a few inches to the right of where most people would have looked at someone they were addressing. "Um, who am I talking to?"

"I'm Taniyama Mai, the spiritualist's assistant. Nice to meet you," Mai smiled, then she realized that Mamori couldn't see her expression.

"Yeah," Mamori grinned, "Likewise. And, um, did you hear anything last night? Like, a scream or something?"

"I could hear all of the noise the spirit made," Mai said, "I don't think the others did, though."

"You could hear it?" Mamori said, her face lighting up with interest. "So, are you physic or something?"

"I guess so," Mai said, "That's what I've been told anyway, and sometimes I have prophetic dreams that help with cases."

"Awesome!" Mamori said, "I've never met a physic person before."

Mai scratched the back of her head sheepishly, "No, it's really nothing big . . . ."

"Did you dream anythin' last night?" Mamori said, cocking her head to one side.

Mai paused for a moment. She had dreamed, hadn't she? Right before the wailing started. But what had it been about? "A woman," she said finally, "There was a dead woman, and a little girl."

Mamori frowned, "That's pretty broad, can't help you. If you can remember more details, maybe it'd mean something?" She gave a little wave, and walked down the hallway, sliding one hand along the wall, stopping at the staircase and carefully feeling her way down it. Mai followed her. Akiyuki was already putting away dishes from her breakfast, and Naru and Lin appeared to have been up for sometime as well.

"Good morning," Akiyuki said, dusting off her hands. "Mamori and I will be going out for the day, and Baa-chan has already left, so you'll have the house mostly to yourselves." She looked at the ceiling for a moment. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"Weren't you gonna show them the attic, Nee-san*?" Mamori asked, carefully making her way towards the table and narrowly missing crashing into Lin in the process.

Akiyuki clicked her fingers. "That's it," she said, "Thank you. Shibuya-san, if you would follow me?" she said waving her hand and starting up the stairs.

Naru rose and followed her up the staircase. Mai, curious as well, turned around after Naru had passed her and stood unobtrusively at the top of the stairs, watching as Akiyuki got a key and a chair from her aunt's room.

She set the chair in the middle of the hallway, then climbed up onto it and unlocked a trapdoor in the ceiling. She pulled down a ladder, kicking away the chair. "My aunt only opened this when we moved in," she said, "Otou-san* is selling the house, there's a bunch of furniture and stuff up there that used to be in our house. But, there was also all sorts of old stuff up there when Baa-chan opened the attic for the first time, and never took it out. You might find something up here, who knows?" Akiyuki finished, and carried the chair into her aunt's room.

"Mai, Matsuzaki-san, and Takigawa-san, look through the attic. If you find anything about old owners of the house, tell me," Naru ordered, "Lin and I will be going over the data from last night."

"Yes!" Mai sighed, leading Ayako and Bou-san up to the ladder Akiyuki had pulled down. She climbed it carefully, and entered a dark, dusty alcove that stretched the length of the house. It was only about six feet at it's highest point in the middle, and the roof sloped sharply down on either side, so Bou-san and Ayako had to duck as they crawled up the ladder.

The attic was filled with boxes and furniture frames. Mai sneezed as she ran her finger along the top of an antique-looking wooden table. "It's so dusty up here," she complained.

"Didn't Naru say the spirit was connected to the girl?" Ayako mentioned, her eyebrows creasing, "What are we going to find up here?"

"Akiyuki said a lot of their family's old stuff is here, too," Mai offered. "Maybe that's what he's looking for."

"Just what is he expected us to find?" Ayako sighed, irritated, as she wrinkled her nose at the dust being kicked up as she shuffled through the boxes. Mai, not knowing what to say, turned her attention to a stack of boxes on her left. She opened the boxes, which were full of books. Mostly, they were medical volumes, with the occasional novel mixed in.

As Mai pulled open another brown box, she heard a clock loudly chime once from somewhere within the attic. She looked at her watch: it was just past eleven o' clock. Turning, she asked, "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Bou-san asked, "I didn't hear anything until you talked."

"I heard a clock," Mai said.

"Maybe a clock from downstairs," Ayako dismissed. "If it's a little slow, it could have chimed 11."

"Maybe," Mai said. _I was sure it was up here, _she frowned, _is the clock like the wailing last night? _She turned back to the box she was looking at and shivered.

Staring up at her from the bottom of the box, half cast in shadow, was an old wooden cuckoo clock with an owl carved on the top. Mai curled one hand into an anxious fist and closed the box, ignoring the wooden bird's penetrating glare. _It's my imagination, _she told herself firmly, and shoved it away.

They searched in silence for a few minutes more before Lin appeared at the top of the ladder. "Did any of you hear anything last night?" he asked.

"Nope," Ayako shook her head. "Nothing."

"Me neither," Bou-san said, "Why, Lin? First Mai, now you."

"Mai?" Lin said, looking at her. "What is he talking about?"

"I heard something last night," Mai admitted, "Everyone in the family did, too. There was someone wailing in the house for over an hour last night. But none of you noticed."

"When did it start?" Lin asked.

"Umm . . . about," Mai said, blinking in shock as she made the connection, "One in the morning. And just now, I heard a clock chime one when I opened a box with an old clock in it!"

"I didn't hear that, either," Ayako objected.

"The noises in this house are pitched at an extremely unusual frequency," Lin said, "We noticed them on the recording from last night. Mai could probably hear them because of her physic abilities."

"So, what? The entire family is physic, too?" Ayako asked.

"I don't think so," Lin said, "Naru said something about the ghost trying to reach the family specifically, which is why they can hear it to. You'll have to ask him for a more detailed explanation."

Ayako made a face, "No, I'm good. I'll stay with that." Mai smiled to herself.

"I'm going to get Naru," Lin said, "Mai, find that clock again. Mai's smile vanished at the thought of the clock, but she turned around, pulled out the box opened it.

Mai lifted it out of the box and handed it to Bou-san. "What do you think?" she asked innocently.

"It's creepy," Bou-san decided, holding it, "It's hard to explain why, but it is."

The three of them climbed down the ladder, passing down the clock, and met with Naru and Lin in the base.

Naru clicked something on the computer, and Mai recognized the sound that started to play through its speakers. "That's the wailing we heard last night!" she announced, pointing at the computer.

"So you really could hear it. Interesting," he said. "Have you noticed anything else the rest of us have missed in this house, Mai?" His tone was business-like, and his eyes stayed focused on the computer while he was talking.

_Could you at least look at me when you're addressing me? _Mai groused to herself. "I heard a chime in the attic," she said, then after thinking for a moment. "And I think I had one of _those_ dreams last night."

"About?" Naru said, sparing her a glance.

"Actually," Mai said, straining to recall, "I don't remember very well. There was a dark hallway with a little girl, and then a bedroom with a woman. There was blood," she determined, then fell silent, unable to remember anything else. Then she admitted, "I talked to Mamori about it earlier, when I remembered more. She might be able to tell you what I said."

"I see," Naru said, clicking at his computer.

"See what?" Ayako asked, "Do you know what's going on?"

"Maybe," Naru said, but rather irritatingly chose not to elaborate. "Do you remember what either of the people in your dream looked like, Mai?" he said, changing the subject.

"I couldn't see them very well," Mai told him. "But they had dark hair, and the woman was maybe in her early thirties. The child was maybe . . . four or five."

Naru didn't answer.

* * *

Mai was furious. Naru had been hinting at something all day, but he refused to just tell them what it was. To make matters worse, he'd called Masako to come and help them identify the spirit. Just the thought of what Masako would be like when she arrived after being personally called by Naru made Mai fume. Granted, he'd also called John, but Mai knew that wouldn't matter to Masako.

Brooding, Mai entered the base with a tray of tea she'd been asked (ordered) to make to discover that John had already arrived, though Masako had not. "I was in the area," he explained.

"Masako won't be here until tomorrow," Lin added, "She was filming south of here." That helped Mai's mood greatly as she passed out the tea cups.

The sound of footsteps came up the stairs next to the room. Mai shivered for a moment, but her fears were quickly laid to rest when Akiyuki knocked on the door of their base and pulled it open. "I just thought I should let you know we were home," she told them, "Did you find anything today?"

"Do you recognize this clock?" Naru said, cutting straight to the point. He pointed to the wooden cuckoo clock, which had been sitting on the table in the base since Mai had taken it out of the attic.

Akiyuki looked at it for a second then answered, "Yes. You found that in the attic, right? It was our grandmother's."

"The same grandmother that died?" Naru asked.

"No," Akiyuki said, "That was from our grandmother on our dad's side. We don't have anything from the grandmother that died: she and Okaa-san** didn't get along. I didn't even meet Obaa-san until a few years ago."

Naru suddenly looked more interested. "Your grandmother and your mother didn't get along?"

"No. Okaa-san didn't believe in the paranormal. She thought that Obaa-san was a crazy old lady," Akiyuki asked, "Why?"

Instead of answering, Naru kept questioning her coldly, "What about Hitotose-san and your mother?"

"They corresponded, but they weren't real close," Akiyuki said, "Where is this going, Shibuya-san?"

Naru decided to answer her this time. "It's very likely that the spirit is someone within your family," he said, "I'm trying to determine who it is."

"Okay," Akiyuki said, seeming pleased to get an answer. "I'll do what I can then, I guess."

"How old are you and your sister?" Naru asked, moving on.

"I'll be turning 17 in a little over a month," Akiyuki said, "Mamori is 13."

"How long ago did your mother die, and under what circumstances?" Naru continued. _Kind of insensitive about asking, huh, Naru, _Mai noticed.

"She died in childbirth 13 years ago," Akiyuki said, "I think that pretty much explains itself. But, Shibuya-san, if you think that a member of my family is the ghost, and you keep asking about Okaa-san, then does that mean . . . ?" Akiyuki trailed off.

"Wait!" Mai inturrupted in disbelief, "That spirit attacked her aunt and _killed_ her grandmother. It couldn't really be her mother, could it?"

"Sometimes spirits change after they die," Naru said flatly, "From what we've seen, it's very likely." Mai stopped, her eyes widening in shock and sadness. Being an orphan herself, she couldn't imagine her own mother coming back to haunt her.

"So now what's left," Bou-san mused, "Is to find out why she turned malicious, and how to get rid of her, right?"

"Correct," Naru said, "However, it's a complication in and of itself that the spirit is attached to a person without actually possessing them, and exorcising will be difficult because of the close blood ties between the ghost and the girl." He was very curt and sure of himself; like he had been considering this for a while and was waiting for comfirmation.

"It's hard to believe," Akiyuki said quietly, "that my mother would really do that." Strained silence followed her words.

* * *

A/N: Finally finished. I had testing and writers block, which is why this took so long. I'll try to be better with the next chapter, but no promises. Thank you for suffering through my attempts at a story, and please review. I'm always open to criticsm and ideas.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Insert standard disclaimers here. I do not own Ghost Hunt, etc.

**Blind Sight**

Sunday

November 19

Day 3

9:30 AM

Mai sat at the table in the main room of the house, her head in her arms. The screaming had gotten even louder last night, and it had given her a throbbing headache that hadn't abated since. Mamori was sitting next to her wearing headphones, her head leaned back and her eyes closed.

Naru came down the stairs with Lin and Akiyuki. The latter looked as tired as Mai felt. There were dark rings under her eyes and her already pale skin seemed to have lost still more of its color. There was a knock at the door, and she went to get it.

She came back a moment later with Masako, who had her smile hidden behind a dark blue kimono sleeve. Mai, already in a disagreeable sort of mood, glared at her. Masako simply smirked superiorly and promptly went to Naru's side. "Did you need me to look for spirits, Naru?" she asked sweetly.

Naru pointed at Mamori, quietly oblivious of their new guest. "Look around her. You should see the spirit of a woman."

Masako's smile lessened slightly at Naru's typical cold demeanor, but she dutifully examined the space around Mamori. There was a long, empty pause, and then Masako announced. "I do see a woman's spirit. But she won't hurt the girl. She adores her."

"What about the rest of us?" Naru asked, "Is she paying attention to you or Mai?"

"No," Masako shook her head. "She's completely oblivious . . ." Akiyuki sat down heavily next to her sister, who still didn't notice.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Akiyuki said, her clean, polite voice gaining an irritated edge, "Why can't we just get rid of it?"

"The spirit is connected to your sister," Naru said, "Exorcising spirits bound to people carelessly can cause harm to the target." Akiyuki was silent for a moment, and then she stood.

"I see, that's unfortunate. Then, I'm going back upstairs. I'll send Baa-san down in a bit, and she will answer any questions you may have," and with a swish, she vanished up the narrow staircase.

_What's eating her? _Mai wondered. Akiyuki had been unwaveringly polite since their arrival, no matter what intrusive and blunt questions Naru and Lin had assaulted her with. She'd taken everything that this bizarre situation had thrown at her without twitching, but now she seemed to have started acting like a wounded animal – snapping at anyone who wasn't careful.

True to her word, however, she sent Hitotose down the stairs. Hitotose greeted Masako graciously. "Would you like to talk to Mamori-chan?" she asked, "I'm sorry. She mainly relies on her hearing, so wearing earphones makes her completely oblivious . . ." she walked over and tapped Mamori on her shoulder.

Masako blinked in shock and recoiled back suddenly. "Get back!" she shreiked at Hitotose, who turned and looked at her in confusion. "That spirit . . . its attitude changed drastically when you came near it," Masako explained, her voice shaking. "It's stronger now, and very angry."

Hitotose's hand unconsciously rose to her throat and she took a few steps back. Mamori paused the MP3 player and pulled the earphones down around her neck. "Yes?" she asked, blissfully unaware of the atmosphere around her.

Masako examined the air around Mamori again. "It's back to normal again. How rare, to find a spirit so talented in masking its power . . ." Abruptly, Masako stopped. "If it can change so dramatically, it's hard to say how powerful it really is by myself," she frowned in distaste, and shot Mai one quick, reluctnat glance. "Can you see it?" she asked.

Mai looked closely where Masako had been watching before. At first, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, so she shook her head. Masako turned to Naru, who started to fill her in on the details of the case.

Part way through Naru's explanation, Mai zoned out. She stared around Mamori, who was sitting quietly, also listening to Naru. As Mai watched, she felt a strange, icy atmosphere around her.

She blinked, and shivered. For a second she thought she had caught sight of something wrapped around Mamori's neck. The thing was slightly translucent, and looked as though it had been bleached of all color but grey. Its hair was long and dark, and the skin was literally the color of paper. It was behind Mamori, but its long white arms were twisted in a grotesque hug around her back.

Mai caught her breath as she watched the figure that appeared to be a woman. It had to be the spirit of Mamori's mother, she decided, the same one Masako had seen. Mai turned to tell Naru that she could see it, too, and gasped to herself. The world swayed around her turned into dark shades of grey, and the people in the room were frozen in place. Masako was smiling behind the wing-like sleeve of her kimono as Naru, mouth partially open in speech, held up a page he'd never finished turning. Bou-san, she saw, was poised in midair, coming down the stairs, and Mamori sat, statue-like and oblivious to the ever-clearer ghost clinging to her neck.

Mai spun around, desperately, looking for someone else still moving, but found none. As she looked toward the café, outside, she caught a flicker of movement in the house and turned yet again, opening her mouth to call to them.

Her call caught harshly in her throat as she saw what had moved. It was the ghost, and it had turned to face her. Its eyes were big, empty holes, filled with a mesmerizing misty blue, the only color Mai could see in the world. Mai gulped as it unlatched itself from Mamori and slowly drifted towards her. For a moment, Mai stood frozen in place as it continued towards her at a steady pace.

Mai's mind was screaming at her to run, but her legs stiffened in terror and her shoes felt like they had been stuck to the ground with powerful magnets. All she managed was a single, stumbling, step backwards before the empty-eyed woman reached her.

The ghost leaned in towards and Mai tried to bring her hands together to use Bou-san's mantra, but no sound came out of her throat. The ghost slowly lifted one white hand, and delicately, deliberately, put it on the side of her face.

This time, Mai was able to scream.

* * *

"Mai!"

_It's Bou-san, _Mai acknowledged with relief. _He's here. _Mai felt her head be lifted up by large hands, and saw Bou-san leaning over her through blurry eyes. She blinked a few times, and slowly sat up.

"It was just a dream," she sighed in relief, and set her head in one hand.

"Are you okay?" Bou-san said anxiously. "You just suddenly collapsed for no reason."

Mai nodded, quickly regaining her grip on reality. "I'm okay," she reassured him, as well as the others who had gathered around her. "I think I saw it. The spirit, I mean."

"What sort of impression did you get from it?" Naru asked.

"It was really scary," Mai said instantly. But, as she thought about it, it didn't really seem like the spirit had meant her any harm. It had touched her, but it hadn't hurt her at all. "But… it didn't try to kill me or anything. It just looked . . . you know. Eerie."

"I see," Naru said raising his eyebrows condescendingly at her vague description, and turned away, losing himself in his contemplations.

"Maybe you should rest for a while, Mai," Bou-san said. "We're not really doing much right now."

Mai hesitated for a moment, because she wanted to know what was going on, but as the adrenaline from her dream receded from her veins, she decided that Bou-san was right. "Yeah," Mai said, "I'll just relax in the base for awhile." She stood up, and as she walked past Mamori, she couldn't help sneaking a last glance at the air around her neck.

There was nothing there.

As Mai walked down the hallway, she saw the door to Akiyuki's room was open. She stopped, and then tentatively walked towards the room. She peeked tentatively around the door frame and saw Akiyuki sitting on her bed, flipping through a book. When Mai entered, she looked up.

"Can I help you?" she said with a sigh, closing the book, "Does Shibuya-san need me for something?"

"Umm, no," Mai said, "I just wanted to make sure everything was alright. You seemed upset."

"How would you feel if you were told your _mother_ killed your grandmother, strangled your aunt, started throwing things at customers, and is haunting your younger sister?" Akiyuki snapped, "Of course I'm upset."

"Oh," Mai said, thinking that maybe she should have just gone straight to the base and taking a step back. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"It's fine," Akiyuki sighed, leaning back and rubbing her head, "I shouldn't be so irritable. You're only trying to help, after all. But I'm exhausted from all of the noises at night, and this is all a little hard for me to deal with. I should be the one apologizing."

Mai help up her hands, surprised by Akiyuki's sudden change of attitude, "No, it's okay. This must be stressful. My mother is dead, too, and I don't know what I'd do if she came back as a poltergeist."

Akiyuki managed a small smile. "I should apologize to Shibuya-san, too, I suppose. I was rather short with him earlier."

"You don't need to," Mai said after a moment, giving her a sheepish grin, "It'll do him good to have someone treat him like he's not the center of the universe."

"Is that really okay?" Akiyuki said, looking surprised.

Mai grinned and gave her a thumbs-up. "You bet!" Akiyuki smiled again, slightly bigger this time.

"Mai," she said, suddenly sounding serious, "What do you think is going to happen now?"

"I don't know," Mai admitted, "Naru didn't really tell me anything. I guess we've got to try to exorcise the spirit, but I have no idea how he's planning to do that."

"But it's dangerous as long as the spirit is attached to Mamori, right?" Akiyuki said, "So first he would need to sever that connection, right?"

"That's right," Mai agreed, tapping one fist into her other hand, "But . . . how can he do that? It's connected to Mamori because she's her daughter, right? It's not like he can change that . . ."

"I don't know," Akiyuki said, picking up her book, "That's your job to find out, isn't it? I do know a few things, though. First, we never experienced anything supernatural until we moved here. Second, my father never remarried, so we grew up without any kind of a mother figure. Third, my mother was very protective, as you can probably tell. I'm afraid that's all I'm able to tell you."

"Hmm . . ." Mai said, standing, "Well, thank you for the information, I guess. We'll do our best."

Akiyuki gave her another, slightly forced looking smile and Mai left the room. She went directly to the base this time, sat at the table with her head in her arms again, and tried to think about what she could possibly do to help, but her mind kept running in circles, and every time she kept coming up with the same answer – there was nothing she could do, except to wait for Naru to do something.

In the interest of trying to spur him into action, Mai abandoned her position at the table to return downstairs.

" . . . causing it to become more violent," Mai heard Naru say as she came down the stairs. "That's what's most likely, anyway."

Mai quietly sat down next to Bou-san on the couch, listening. Naru gave her a slight nod as she came down, acknowledging her presence.

"According to Masako, the spirit seems to have a violent reaction to Hitotose. I would like Masako to watch the spirit's reaction to the rest of us, and anyone that it rejects will have to be removed from Mamori-san's presence, at least temporarily. I'll figure out what is causing it to become violent, and can work in various different directions depending on that data." Naru explained in a slightly bored tone of voice.

Mai was glad that he was explaining what he was doing at all, but still wishing that he would say things like '_we'll _figure out what is causing to become violent,' and include the rest of them a bit more, but decided that she ought to at least be grateful for any improvement in treating other people as equals.

* * *

Mamori, looking horribly vulnerable and out of her depth, stood awkwardly in by the room as the members of SPR approached her one by one. Lin had retrieved Akiyuki from her room, and she was the first one to approach.

"It actually seems to like her," Masako said, "It seems happier when she's around." Naru nodded, and approached Mamori next. "No reaction," was Masako's verdict.

Mai stepped forward next. Masako paused for a moment, looking at something behind Mamori nobody else could see and Mai repressed a shudder, remembering the empty-eyed shadow. "No reaction to her, either," Masako announced.

Mai stepped away, and John came forward next. "No reaction," came the words again, but this time, it wasn't Masako speaking. It was Akiyuki.

"How can you tell?" Masako said with a frown. "Are you physic?"

"No," Akiyuki said, shaking her head neatly, "I'm guessing. And I'm guessing that the spirit will get angry at everybody else. That is to say," she explained with a sigh, "it will get angry at all the adults."

"What makes you say that?" Naru said his interest spiking.

"I told Mai earlier," Akiyuki said, "My mother – our mother – was extremely protective. She didn't like leaving us with other adults. The only people whose house I was ever allowed to visit by myself as a child was our neighbor's, and Otou-san had to force that one. If that really is Okaa-san's spirit, she'll dislike the adults, but have no problem with people under the age of about 18. Or," she said, flicking a glance at John, "people that look under 18, as the case may be."

"Well, we'll see if you're right," Ayako said slightly petulantly, walking up next to Mamori. Instantly, Masako took a step back.

"Get away," Masako said, "It's really angry. As angry as it was when Hitotose-san came to close."

"I told you," Akiyuki said quietly. Lin and Bou-san also approached Mamori, and Akiyuki's predictions were quickly proved to be accurate. Her face had taken on a grim quality that, combined with her pale complexion, had created a rather ominous expression.

Naru looked at her, ignoring her apparent discomfort. "Is there anything else you've neglected to mention that would be useful?" he said, apparently slight irritated about having been left out of Akiyuki's critical bit of information. She shook her head.

"That's your job, isn't it?" she said, "You know what's causing it and what makes it angry. I just want it to leave."

"The only person here that doesn't cause the spirit to react and has the ability to exorcise is John," Naru said, deciding to ignore Akiyuki's comment, "Ayako, Bou-san, Lin, I want you leave the building before and during the exorcism. The less threatened the spirit feels, the easier it will be to take it by surprise. That obviously goes for you as well, Hitotose-san. You should be able to come back to the house by tonight."

"Got it," Bou-san said with a firm nod. "When is John performing the exorcism?"

"Tonight," Naru said, "Which means that you should get your things, and leave as soon as possible." Lin, having already predicted what Naru wanted, was already halfway up the stairs. After a moment, Bou-san followed, and after some grumbling about getting kicked out, Ayako continued after.

Mai studied her hands for a moment, glancing out the window in an attempt to avoid the heavy atmosphere that had settled over the silence. The air had turned an eerie yellowish color, the way it does before a thunderstorm. She was confused, still no really following Naru's logic.

John stood in front of a passive-looking Mamori, ready to perform the exorcism as soon as Naru gave the word. Bou-san and Lin came down, Bou-san waving and saying, "We'll stay nearby. See you later, Mai," he called to her. Mai cheerily waved back at him trying to ignore the sinking feeling that had settled like a rock in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

Ayako, who had more stuff to collect, took a little longer, and Hitotose had decided to wait for her. Lin and Bou-san had already left the time Ayako came down. As she passed John and Mamori, the latter stepped out and grabbed her wrist, Mamori's opposite hand coming down in a hard slap against the side of Ayako's face.

Recoiling in shock, Ayako dropped her bags and jerked her hand away from Mamori, stepping frantically backward. Before anyone had full grasped what happened, a cold, clear voice filled the room. "Just what," Mamori said, "do you think you're trying to do?" The casual, slurred accent that had Mamori's voice so different from her sister's had completely disappeared and was replaced by an accent less, icy tone.

Her eyes opened from their usual lightly curved shut position, and they were a dark, twisting blue. "Why are you trying to keep me from protecting her?" she said, stepping forward angrily. "She's my child! You're just a bunch of strangers we hadn't known before this week. If I leave now, she'll start acting like her!" She viciously stabbed a finger in the directions of a shocked-looking Hitotose, who was staring at Mamori as though she was a ghost. "My Mamori-chan has her own life and her own problems to overcome! She absolutely cannot get mixed up in the trash that you and Okaa-san did. Nobody but me should be allowed to take care of her! But since I'm . . . . like this, her sister will. But not you, Nee-san, and definitely none of you random children."

The ghost used Mamori's hands to punctuate her movements, angrily cutting swaths through the air as she spoke fiercely and passionately.

"John," Naru said. His voice was low, as though he were trying to keep the ghost from paying too much attention to him. Mai recovering from the shock and processing what she'd seen, marched in front of Mamori's possessed body and looked straight at the sharp, unnatural blue eyes.

"Why not?" Mai said, trying to reason with the angry spirit. "Hitotose-san seems like a very good person. She'll take good care of Mamori, so why can't you rest in peace."

"Why can't you keep your nose out of adult's business?" snapped the voice of the spirit. "You don't know anything. You only met _Hitotose-san_," she snarled the name sarcastically, "A few days ago. I grew up with her. She's irresponsible, unrealistic, and an incessant idealist. Just like _you_." As the ghost said that last sentence, she lifted Mamori's arm up, and a dark shadow slunk from the hand, wrapping itself tightly around Mai's throat.

Instantly, Mai's hands flew to her neck, scrabbling against the insubstantial force tightening itself around her. She groped at the air around her throat as she became unable to breathe.

"Mai!" she heard John's voice in the background, but his voice was starting to dim. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since she had stopped breathing, but she fought desperately and uselessly to free her throat.

Her vision started to cloud, and she felt her strength seep from her arms. _I don't want to die like this, _she thought desperately, blindly reaching out, _Naru!_

As if on cue, the force around Mai's neck abruptly released itself with a hiss of air, and as Mai's knees buckled underneath her, she saw Mamori spin sideways and crumple to the background. Naru was standing in front of her, one hand out where Mamori used to be standing. He looked pale, and Mai scrambled to her feet to see what was wrong.

"Naru?" she asked, setting one hand on the top of his arm, trying to steady him. "What were you thinking! Are you alright?" He shook her hand off.

"I'm fine," he carefully keeping his voice indifferent, but he was shaking slightly. Mai reached to help him again, automatically, but reluctantly caught herself and lowered her hand after he glared at her. "Worry about yourself," he told her, and looked away. Naru sat heavily on the couch, and Bou-san and Lin rushed in the door.

"What happened?" Bou-san demanded, "We heard a huge crash . . ." he trailed off, and hurried to Mai, who was still shaking, occupying her attention. Lin went to Naru, taking his pulse and finding his results satisfactory, but he didn't look pleased.

"Sit down," he said, "Are you feeling okay?" Bou-san guided her to a cushion, and Mai took several deep breaths.

"I'm just fine," she said with a smile that felt slightly forced over her lingering fear, "Thanks to Naru."

"Naru-san, should I exorcise her now?" John said, stepping urgently towards the body of poor Mamori, who appeared to be unconscious. For a moment, it seemed to Mai that Naru was asleep, and wouldn't be able to answer, but he slowly picked his head up and nodded.

"Yes. Hurry," he said, and closed his eyes once again. As John knelt and began to slowly chant the lines of the Bible, and cast holy water over Mamori's body, the tension slid out of Naru's shoulders. _He really is asleep, _Mai smiled to herself. She turned to watch John, who appeared to be nearly finished. Mamori's body gave a single, violent shudder, and a smoky, amorphous form drifted in the air for a moment.

Mai braced herself, afraid the spirit would use the remains of its energy to attack them yet again, but it was unnecessary. The smoke lingered over Mamori a moment more, before turning a gentle, whitish-blue color and dissipating.

When Mai thought back on the moment later, very little had actually happened as the spirit disappeared, especially compared to the havoc that had been wreaked while it lingered. However, an uneasy atmosphere Mai hadn't noticed existed in the house seemed to dissipate as it became once again an innocent café.

"She's gone," John said softly. He shook Mamori's shoulder gently. "Are you awake?" For a moment, there was no answer, and then she stirred slightly. She held one hand out, and it brushed against John's arm, which she gently used to orient herself and sit up.

"Yes," Mamori said, "Okaa-san, she . . ." Mamori broke off, not able to articulate her thoughts. "I'm sorry," she said at last, "for causing you trouble. It's better this way."

"Thank you for your help," Akiyuki interrupted, her voice miraculously stable, despite the fact there was no color in her face, and her hands were clenched together to keep them from shaking, "This was an . . . unexpected situation, to say the least. Is Shibuya-san alright?"

Mai had anxiously kept one eye on Naru since she saw him fall asleep, and he looked okay. "I think so," she said, looking to Lin for a more concrete answer.

"He's just asleep," Len confirmed. "It seems he didn't use enough of his energy to seriously hurt him."

"I see," Akiyuki said, clearly not understand how he had used energy in the first place, "Feel free to stay here until he wakes up." Lin decided it would be best to wait, but dismissed Bou-san, Ayako, and John. Masako insisted on staying until Naru had woken, and Mai reluctantly allowed her to help put away the camera equipment.

* * *

"Get out of the way," Masako snapped at Mai as she carried a tripod out the door. Mai clenched her fist. _What's her problem? _Mai fumed, closing the box she was packing with unnecessary force. She continued to slam around the room for a moment, before Masako came back

"Best be more careful," Masako said, with slight superiority, "You can't pay him back if you break that equipment."

"I already know that," Mai said, shooting a glare to Masako's back. "I wouldn't be upset if it wasn't for you."

"Listen to you," Masako hissed, her voice slightly choked before clearing. "So self-important. You know Naru needs you, and you just love to abuse that. He's ready to sacrifice himself for you, and you take it for granted."

They stood in silence for a moment before Mai found the worlds to answer. "Naru . . . doesn't need me," she said.

"You're so stupid I can't even stand to be in the same room as you," Masako announced. She closed another box she'd been packing and awkwardly carried it into the hallway, leaving Mai alone with her thoughts.

_Naru . . . has saved me a lot,_ she realized,_ but he'd do the same for Masako, wouldn't he? When she disappeared at the mansion with the vampire, he had her comb. _Shaking her head, Mai banished the troublesome thoughts, checked the room once more for their equipment, and carried her own box onto the lower floor.

Naru, evidently recovered enough for Lin to leave him for a moment, was standing by the stairs. "You're slow," he told her, "Everyone else is already finished packing."

"Well, excuse me for being thorough," she snapped slightly, then instantly regretted it. "More importantly, are you alright?"

He turned his back to her. "Fine," he said shortly, "Don't concern yourself with it." Naru walked out the door, leaving Mai staring at the space where he'd been.

"Shouldn't you follow him?" Akiyuki asked, leaning on the doorframe to the kitchen with a small, knowing smile, calmed now that the crisis was concluded.

Mai looked at for a moment, tipped her head slightly, and then smiled back. "Yeah," she said, "Goodbye."

Akiyuki nodded, and Mai started to the door, but Mamori appeared next to her to offer a more vocal farewell. "We'll see you again, Mai! Stop by sometime, and we'll feed you!"

Mai laughed, thanked her, and exited the café to where Naru was waiting.

* * *

A/N: Finally done. Which leaves me to answer the question, what took so long? Well, for awhile I was more interested in reading than writing, so it took like 3 months for me to take this up again. And then, when I finally decided to finish it, I realized I had _absolutely no idea what I was planning for the ending. _I had a plan, once upon a time. I forgot it. So I struggled through writers block for awhile. And then I started high school, and with it, extensive homework. My teachers are not kind to freshmen. Which obviously slowed down the process quite a bit. So, since I figured I ought to at least publish something, I splotched this together. Sorry about the sucky ending. At least it's fairly long.


End file.
